Posted by
strikemepinkifidontthink.com on Thursday, January 18, 2007 10:06:41 AM
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Always ready for someone else to write my weekly piece, I present the following efforts of phrasemakers from the past and present. To find these substitutes I had to work as hard as if I were writing my regular page. But I dug and dug some more and came up with things that will not be found in the usual collection of wise sayings and prudential proverbs. Very few of them have seen the light of day before, so expect the unexpected. I’m afraid a number of the items presented are a little cynical in their tone, but they’ve survived somehow, proving that people occasionally want this kind of thing. Someday I’ll print a collection of positive comments on everything in general, which will be a change of pace from the wiseguys. I’m told nobody will read it. Such a reflection on human nature -- always wants to hear scandal and never anything constructive. Well then, here we go:
In all countries the sun rises in the morning. G. Herbert.
A striking coincidence. Ed.
The surest way to a woman’s heart is to take aim kneeling. D. Jerrold.
Still works. Ed.
I have found it generally true that it takes two to make a romance. T. Dreiser.
At last, the secret revealed. Ed.
The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny. Burke.
Do not burn down your house even to annoy your chief wife’s mother. Chinese saying.
However much you dislike your mother-in-law, you must not set fire to her.
London court, 1925.
The judge had read his fortune cookies. Ed.
There is a great deal of human nature in man. C. Kingsley.
So I have always thought. Ed.
You come of good blood and so does a black pudding. Proverb.
All men are bores except when we want them. O.W. Holmes.
Bore: a person who talks when you wish him to listen. A. Bierce.
Creditors have better memories than debtors. B. Franklin.
An honest official has no fat subordinates. Chinese saying.
A louse is a man’s companion but a flea is a dog’s companion. Swift.
The democratic system which we call the government of the people, for the people, by the people and to hell with the people. M. Arlen.
A monarchy is a [ship] which sails well, but will sometimes…go to the bottom, a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water. F. Ames.
Differing views. Ed.
Every road leads in two directions. Chinese saying.
It is a blinde Goose that comes to the Foxe’s sermon, J. Lyly.
The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it. S. Johnson.
You can’t win. Ed.
A man must have very little to do at church that can give an account of the sermon.
J. Vanbrugh.
He who rides in the chair is a man; he who carries the chair is also a man.
Chinese saying.
Those who have never been to Scotland cannot form a notion of what it is to be serious.
M. O’Rell.
Drink up, Scots, and lighten up. Ed.
Put down enthusiasm…The Church of England in a nutshell. H. Ward.
I didn’t say it, I just quoted it. Ed.
In religion I am an anythingarian. Swift.
The rest of the time he was an Anglican. Ed.
Only Anglo-Saxons can govern themselves. W. A. White (American).
Many a man’s reputation wouldn’t know his character if they met on the street.
E. Hubbard.
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